Actually, we should ask a Southern Baptist preacher. We could end up with as many as 5 or 6 syllables. 
I can’t think of an example, but I write metrical poetry and you can find poems in which poets used the one syllable pronunciation of “fire” in one line, and the two syllable pronunciation in another. Your ear can switch back and forth between the two based solely on context clues.
So, it’s both, neither, or either, depending on your point of view.
Can’t sleep 'cause my bed’s on Fy-err
Don’t touch me, I’m a real live WY-err
2 syllables. Just like “wire.”
It’s that letter “i” that’s the problem. What about the word “child”? Do you say it chay-uld or chaaaahld? I think it might be a regional thing, with the “correct” pronunciation being one syllable but in the colloquial, many people do weird things with that “i” sound. Myself included.
Well, if it’s Elmer Fudd pronouncing it, it’s definately TWO (2) syllables.
Which is why nativity scenes in this part of the country frequently depict the the three wisemen as firemen.
Because they came from …
Fa-yer. Two silly bulls.
2 syllables if you listen to the Ohio Players song:
Fire (Uh) [Uh]
Fire (It’s all about) [Uh, uh]
Fire (Woo, woo, woo)
Fire
The way you walk and talk really sets me off
To a fuller love, child, yes, it does, uh
The way you squeeze and tease, knocks to me my knees
‘Cause I’m smokin’, baby, baby
Now I can’t get the damn song out of my head. Thanks a lot.
Yes… I recently had a birthday and I just turned old.
Orient? I don’t get it.
Raht, it’s got three fewer sylluhbuls than ‘shit’!
They came from afar. Or, with the accent, a fire.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=wire&r=67
Wire has just one syllable like fire. Song lyrics tend to be a poor choice to point to as examples as singers often will sing words in an unusual way to match the music. Particularly the case if the melody was written first, and the lyrics afterwards. A lot of this whole issue is regional variations in pronunciation. That radio announcer who posted earlier is trained to not use regional variations. Consider the case of an announcer who was broadcasting nationally. He’d want what he is saying to sound more of less right everywhere. The de facto standard pronunciation in American English is what they speak in Peoria, and not Dallas or Atlanta.
it was a joke.
Phonetically, it seems to be [fijr] (can’t do the little capital “i” on the SDMB)–no schwa as far as I can see.
You can pronounce it [fir], as one, or include the dipthong as [fijr]–[fi] and [yr], two syllables.
Pee-O-ree-aah? :eek:
Funny you should say that. I grew up in central IL just 15 minutes north of Peoria. 
No shit!
We say it “FI-er”.
In Lansing, MI, not far from Illinois, I hear both variations in use.
Same place, but I definitely say it with two syllables; I’ll need to pay attention to how people around me say it.
Funny . . . just this evening I was thinking about “world” and “girl” - both of those are two syllables for me, the second having a syllabic L. I can’t even twist my mouth around a one-syllable version.
liberal says that the r is causing the problem and Rubystreak says it is the i that is to blame. I think they are both overlooking the fact that the f started the whole thing.
As to how southerners pronounce “fire”, it depends on what part of the south you are in (lib will most likely back me up on this). If you really want to hear the word pronounced correctly, go to the hills of Tennesse.
[sup]Then ask them to say “chair”, it will rhyme with “fire”[/sup]
So you are from the Lansing area? Curious. I was actually raised in a northern suburb of Detroit. For me, there isn’t even the slightest hint of 2 syllables when I pronounce girl and world. I have to admit that if I slow down my speech significantly slower than usual, fire does come out as 2 syllables. However, at the normal speed I just glide into the r sound at the end. However, no matter how slow I say world and girl, it is a clean glide into the l sound. When the ending is an l sound, my normal speech pattern is just always a clean glide into it.
It truly is amazing how rich and varied Southern accents are. There are even portions of the South (large portions) where the long “i” is not a diphthong at all. It’s a sound akin to “a” in cat, but a bit sharper, with a relaxed palate. Regarding Rubystreak’s example of “child”, it is once again the liquid consonant that is the problem. Both “l” and “r” come with initial sounds preceding them. It isn’t the “i”. Consider “vile” and “vale” and “veal”. They all get the schwa — vi-uhl, vey-uhl, vee-uhl.